ICC Speaker Series hosts Gee

Dr. Jennifer Gee, director of the James San Jacinto Mountain Reserve, will discuss “Love in the Mountains, the Mating Behavior of Quail” at the second 2014 installment of the Idyllwild Community Center Speaker Series. The Idyllwild Nature Center at 25225 Highway 243, will host the series at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb.15; the Friends of the San Jacinto Mountain County Park serves as sponsor of the event.

Gee has a doctorate degree from Princeton University based on research on the Gambel’s and California quail. A two-year, post-doctorate fellowship at Cornell University followed, and Gee spent three more years at Harvard University as a post-doctoral fellow studying the developmental processes in the beak of Darwin’s finches. Gee spent one year as a visiting assistant professor at Whitman College before taking a one-year sabbatical spent in the field at Deep Canyon in Palm Desert studying Gambel’s and California quail; she also initiated a study of Gambel’s and Elegant quail near Alamos, Sonora, Mexico. In July 2012, in addition to serving as an associate researcher, Gee became director of the James Reserve behind Lake Fulmor.

In addition to discussing the reproductive strategies of the Mountain and California quail, Gee also will cover local wildlife — the Southern Pacific Rattlesnake, the bobcat and the Jerusalem cricket.